


Be not afraid

by SamCreates



Category: Lucifer (Comic), Lucifer (TV)
Genre: All aboard the Lucella Ship, Angry Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Angst, Cain is a dick, Dan Espinoza & Lucifer Morningstar Friendship, Dan Espinoza Finds Out, Devil Face (Lucifer TV), Did I Mention Angst?, Disregards Season 4, Ella Lopez Finds Out, Fluff and Angst, Good Brother Michael, Good Friend Dan Espinoza, Hurt Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV) Devil Reveal, Lucifer can actually act his age, More angst, Multi, NO Deckerstar, No Beta, Post Season 3, Protective Raphael, We die like spartans, at least he is in this one, unexplained Angelmagic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:35:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23856946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamCreates/pseuds/SamCreates
Summary: After getting shot by Pierce's henchman, Chloe fell, but stayed conscious, witnessing Lucifer shielding them with his wings. Drama ensues, but at least no murderous priests are involved.
Relationships: Amenadiel/Linda Martin/Mazikeen (Lucifer TV), Chloe Decker & Lucifer Morningstar, Ella Lopez/Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 21
Kudos: 283





	1. Angels Acrimony

**Author's Note:**

> I am not a very active writer. I am waaaayyy too self-conscious to post a lot. Perfectionism prevents me from publishing my ideas. Usually.  
> The Lucifer Fandom though has driven its claws into me and drags me onto some really wild idea rides and it just needs to get out sometimes.
> 
> English is not my first language, my vocabulary is mediocre at best.  
> So I am immensely grateful to my Beta on Discord - thank you, Cunning <3  
> It is also my very first Lucifer Fanfic, the most I have written for the fandom so far were some roleplays.   
> I want to improve, so... comments are welcome, just keep everything mentioned in mind.

Coming to the Loft had been a bad idea. It had smelled like a trap, looked like a trap, felt like a trap - And they had walked into it with their eyes wide open.  
When the bullet hit her, Chloe was knocked back, right into the safe arms of her partner. 

"Detective! No, no no no this-" Lucifer started to clearly panic.

Daring a glance upwards into his face confirmed her suspicion.  
"Lucifer - I am okay.. vest", she gasped, trying to reassure him, but the pain made most of her words get stuck in her throat.  
Vest or no vest - a bullet to the shoulder hurt like a bitch.  
Her partner looked somewhat relieved for a second before his expression turned grim again and he glared at the man that shot her, Pierce's goon.

Chloe glanced around carefully, assessing their situation until she saw the look on Pierce's face.   
They were trapped, and the Sinnerman knew it. And he was angry.  
The gunmen around them raised their weapons while their boss glared at her and Lucifer.

"Finish it", he heard her ex-finacé growl, "Finish it!"  
Lucifers hold on her tightened slightly, and she heard his heart rate pick up significantly while the men around them readied their weapons in a matter of a few heartbeats.

'This is it', her thoughts ground to a hold, getting stuck on 'this is how I am going to die. We won't get out of here...'  
It was like all those stupid clichèes said - time stopped, and she saw a few episodes of her life playing in her mind like a bad romcom.  
Camping with her Dad; the day he died; the day she met Dan; their first date; Trixies Birth; her first birthday; her first day at School; Dan getting more and more distant; the day they separated; Meeting Lucifer...

The bad Movie playing stopped there. On his stupidly handsome face with his deep, mesmerizing eyes.

_"Lucifer Morningstar... is that a Stage name?"_

_His strangely smug smile widened a fraction at that._

_"God-given, I'm afraid."_

Reality forced it's way back to her in an instant as the first shot fell.

Chloe closed her eyes, waiting for the pain - the end - to come. But instead of darkness, a white, warm glow peeked through her closed eyelids.  
The shots fell around them like a deadly hailstorm, immeasurably loud in the otherwise quiet loft. But the pain never came.   
At least not for her.

Lucifer's laboured breath and pained grunts were a dead giveaway that, while she seemed to be safe, he was less so.  
Chloe dared to open her eyes, despite the panic at seeing her partner hurt - yet, the first thing she saw was not what she expected. There was no loft, no Sinnerman, not one of his henchmen looming close by, no bullets to be seen even though they clearly hit the ground around them.

Instead, she was surrounded by a wall of white, seemingly made from... feathers?  
Before Chloe could raise a hand to touch the strange barrier that protected her from the death waiting behind it, Lucifer cried out in immense pain, demanding all of her attention.  
The Detective turned her head and paled at the view presented to her.

The strange, protective wall of feathers seemed to come from Lucifer - growing straight from his back.  
Just now Chloe noticed the small rivulets and splatters of blood streaking the gleaming white feathers, tainting their glow, staining them.

'Wings...', she realized. This wasn't a wall, those were wings, growing out of her partners back.  
The bullets didn't need to hit her, the pain shot straight through her heart anyways.

He hadn't lied. 

_"I always tell you the truth!", he practically yelled at her, frustrated, annoyed._

_"No. You tell me your truth..."_

But... his truth seemed to be hers now as well.

Angel Wings. Which meant...

  
The shooting stopped, and then there was a gust of wind.  
She felt weightless, just for one heartbeat, while at the same time gravity seemed to crush her from all sides.  
The next moment, everything stilled again.  
The faint noise of cars and shouting people reached her ears, the stale air of the loft replaced by something fresher.

He must have flown them out, she thought as sunshine warmed her skin - yet she felt cold inside.

Lucifers grip all around her slackened, and Chloe did not waste a single moment to scramble away from the Angel - _The Devil!_ \- in front of her.

The look he gave her was one of devastation, grief and some sort of grim, sad acceptance.

"Please... Detective. I am not going to hurt you", the man... Angel... Devil... the Being before her spoke quietly, calmly, clearly trying to reassure her. 

Chloe though could only stare at him - it? - and his still visible, bloodied and wrecked wings, terrified and confused.

All her instincts were screaming at her to run away, as fast and far as possible. She was caught on a roof high above Los Angeles and the literal, biblical Devil was crouching between her and the only way off said roof, the only way to safety.

He seemed to recognize the look on her face, seemed to be used to that look, must have seen it a lot of times by the way he nodded to himself.

"Fear not, Detective. I will just get to our friends downstairs in the loft and once they have been dealt with, I will be out of your hair. You have my word and my word- well.. you know."

'Once they have been dealt with' - what did that even mean now, with the new context?! She was too terrified to ask, to even think about it.

"You know", he began, quietly still, trying to soothe her, but it was clear by the drooping wings and his downcast eyes that he was absolute and utterly defeated.

"Doctor Linda thought that showing you my wings would be a good idea, the right idea even. That you deserved to know."

He looked up at her again, and if she wouldn't be paralyzed by fear, if she would still be oblivious the Truth, the look he gave her would have broken her heart.

"But it's this exact expression on your face, this look that I never wanted to see again. Especially not from you. I didn't want to show you proof, because I feared your reaction. I just... I knew it would be too much for you. For once I hate being right."

Before the Detective even got the chance to answer, the Devil stood and turned, his ruined wings stretching to their full impressive span and with one beat, he was gone.

Chloe sat there for a moment longer, stunned and still somewhat paralyzed, the sun warming her back before she snapped out of it.

The sound of crashing glass a few levels below her let her jump into motion again and even though it jostled her injury, it didn't stop Chloe from rushing to the door and down the stairs, back to the loft.

* * *

The glass splinters crunched underneath the red soles of his Louboutins as the Devil made his way into the loft.

So much for a real dramatic second entrance. The space was void of people, the only things left were his own shredded and bloodied feathers, some shot to Hell pieces of art and the bullet casings - no sign at all of Cain or any of his men.

Lucifer crouched down, picking up one of his own feathers. They couldn't have gone far in the short time the Devil had been absent. But he would probably not be able to catch up to them on foot. And his wings, ridden with lead, were clearly out of commission.

Steps on the stairs caught his attention. Light, fast... and the typical sound of the Detectives boots. No enemy then. Probably. Hopefully.

Rising from the ground, still holding onto his feather, he turned around to face the Detective, a small smile on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes and that immediately fell when she came to a sudden halt on the last few steps of the stairs, staring at him as if he was a predator just waiting to bite into her tender flesh.

The Devil retracted his wings with some sickening crunching noises made from broken bones and bone splinters scraping over the bullets still stuck in the wounds, wincing and grimacing in pain.

At least, he looked human again like this, taking a small amount of fear from Chloe.

"It seems our friends got away just after we did, Detective. If you wish-" he got interrupted by the doors behind him getting thrown open and a group of armed officers making their way into the room, led by one Daniel Espinoza.

He ran up straight to Chloe, still glued to the last step of the stairs, and checked her over, noticing the massive bruise slowly forming underneath her shirt.

"Fuck, did he shoot you? Are you okay?" Dan fussed all around Chloe, checking her for more injuries while the team of officers swept through the loft, making sure the place was secured.

After that, the Devil and the Detective were ushered out - Chloe to the ambulance to get her shoulder treated and Lucifer to be questioned by some officers since he was seemingly unharmed.

Chloe barely had the mind to answer the questions the medics threw at her, her focus glued to Lucifer, always keeping an eye on the biggest apex predator known to mankind - because that had to be what the Devil was, right?

And Lucifer noticed. The wary, nearly scared look the Detective gave him was one he was sadly very used to. Linda had given him the same look the first few days she dared to speak to him again after he had revealed himself to her.

And he was so thoroughly sick of that look.

He had to get away from it. For his own sake and for hers. He would otherwise also have to come up with a reasonable explanation for blood and feathers inside the loft, how they were both safe and how Pierce had gotten away. And frankly, he had no mind to skirt around the truth right now.

The pain in his wings was driving him absolutely crazy, was messing with his head and his patience - and at the first chance he got (the officers got interrupted by the arrival of the forensics team) he simply snuck away from the scene and flew off.

The flight back to Lux was excruciating, the landing on his balcony rather ungraceful. At least Miss Lopez and the Douche were gone, as well as John Barrow. Blissfully alone to wail in his misery.

Shrugging his wings away in the state they were in was simply too much effort, and since he was alone, he just dragged them behind himself, in too much pain to hold them up.

Bloody Hell, he was exhausted.

Lucifer barely made his way over to his bar, grabbed the closest two bottles in one hand, skipped the tumblers and slouched over to his sofa, falling gracelessly, face first, onto it.

He would deal with the bullets later, with anything, really.

After downing both bottles in record time, he simply laid back down on the sofa, careful not to jostle his broken wings too much, and was dead to the world in seconds.


	2. White Flag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and Ella are looking for their wayward consultant and find more than they expected.  
> Poor Dan, tough Ella.
> 
> Ella's POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tend to stumble a bit into other persons POVs - yes, it's a bad habit I am trying to break - but... i usually pick one prominent one.  
> Also, I am trying to adjust my writing a bit to some useful feedback I got on the first chapter. It's not ideal yet, but I am trying my best to improve <3  
> Again - comments are greatly appreciated. Throw in possible ideas? Sweet!  
> Gimme feedback on my writing, help me get better? - Even sweeter!  
> Just say hi? - HI! <3

"I just can't believe it!" Dan was raging.  
After Chloe had been taken away from the scene to the hospital, he and Ella were asked to look for one certain missing Consultant. As it was not their case to work on - apart from the fact that they were somehow actually involved, which would open an entirely new can of worms later on - looking for the wayward club owner that fled the scene was the most they were allowed to do.

"That stupid asshole just _left_! He never really sticks to protocol, but _this_ just takes the cake."

While Dan raged on, Ella drove them both over to Lux. She was a bit miffed herself, but she didn't have a general problem with Lucifer like Dan had. So instead of cursing the man in all the colours a rainbow had to offer, the young forensic scientist thought of reasons _Why_.  
Why had Lucifer left? Dan was right, the self-proclaimed Devil only stuck to protocol when it suited him, but he always had Chloe's back. He would never leave her behind like this without a very good reason.  
Why was Chloe so out of it? usually, she was a pretty tough nut to crack. A single shot to the shoulder was painful, and the fact that her ex-fiancè was apparently a crime lord with a reputation worthy of Al Capone perhaps played a role as well, but was that really enough for Chloe to go almost catatonic?  
Why had she been staring at Lucifer as if he was some kind of threat? Had that been the reason the man had fled?

 _What_ _had_ _happened?_

When they arrived at Lux, the club was eerily quiet. It wasn't time yet for any patron to be here, sure, and there was some staff bustling about in preparation for the evening. But something just felt off today.  
Security knew their faces, so getting in and to the elevator was no problem at all. Patrick, the bartender, threw them a slightly confused look - just an hour ago the two of them had been rushing out in order to get to the loft, to get to Lucifer and Chloe in time - but he didn't comment on anything.

In the elevator, Dan stood next to Ella with his arms crossed over his chest and his foot tapping impatiently.

"I swear, of he has someone up there... or just came here to drink or whatever, I am so gonna punch him", he growled, and Ella rolled her eyes.

"Dude, seriously. I am sure he had a reason. He wouldn't let Chloe down like that without one," Ella tried to console him. Even though she could not come up with a single reason for Lucifer to flee an ongoing investigation like that.

"Yeah, sure. And the whole Candy-shaped issue was probably staged. Or some collective dream. Face it, Ella. The guy is just... bad. Proper procedure is a joke to him, as is telling the truth. It's what he does - getting people into trouble and then letting them down."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened just as Ella was about to answer, so Dan brushed her off and marched into the dimly lit penthouse.

"Lucifer? You here?" Dan called out, his tone very obviously pissed.

A small groan was coming from the sofa, and both Ella and Dan made their way over - just to both stop dead in their tracks at the sight before them.  
There on the probably way too expensive furniture in front of them was a mass of shredded, bloody, but glowing feathers, and underneath those was the vaguely recognizable shape of Lucifer Morningstar.  
For a second, Dan thought about starting to rage again - this was no time for stupid cosplay, damn it! - but the body started moving, and so did the feathers, the wings crunching as if broken - and from the look of it, they were.  
With the slight movement came another groan from the body beneath, clearly in pain, and fresh blood dripped from the feathers onto the sofa and the floor.  
The smell was that of real blood. And the movement of the limbs seemed very alive. Just as the ethereal glow that the feathers emitted underneath the fresh blood.

Before them was an Angel. An actual, real, literal, breathing and living Angel - which was very clearly in pain.  
With that realization came another - the name was real. This was not just any Angel. If everything he said was true, so was his name.  
In front of them, on the caramel-coloured Italian leather sofa, the Devil was bleeding out slowly.

Both of them needed a few moments before they were able to function again properly.  
Once they did, Dan reached for his gun, but Ella put her hand on his arm, stopping him mid-motion.

"Dude, no! Stop and think before you rush!"   
  


In her mind, the entire crime scene made so much more sense all of a sudden.

"Think about the loft! Chloe was nearly unharmed, but with that many bullet casings? She should have been minced meat! There was a perfect circle of blood, casings and feathers, right in the middle of the place."  
Ellas' eyes traced the wrecked wings. Those were definitely bullet wounds.

"He must have used them as a shield. Dan! He saved Chloe with his own wings! You can't shoot him! Chloe would be dead without him!"  
She got louder with every spoken word, almost waking the Devil from his sleep. The wings quivered, and Lucifer groaned and shivered, the sleep not saving him from his pain.

Dan took a short moment, seemingly to think about her words, then he nodded and let go of his gun. But he was unable to speak. It was mostly fear that kept him quiet.

"If Chloe saw his wings... If she knows about him as well... It would make sense - the way she behaved at the scene. I mean, she was almost paralyzed by fear."

"Why", he had to swallow once to get his throat working again, "why are you not more... freaked out about this?"  
His tone held a note of hysteria. 

The young woman looked at the resting Angel, her brow furrowed, clearly contemplating if she should let Dan in on her biggest secret.   
But what is seeing a ghost compared to staring the Devil in the face? Or, rather, stare at his ruined wings since his face was buried in one of the sofa cushions.

"When I was 8, I was in this really bad car wreck. Ever since then, I am seeing a ghost. I mean... Sometimes. When she isn't busy doing ghost stuff. She just visits sometimes. So... The supernatural? Nothing new to me."  
She glanced over at Dan just to make sure he wasn't staring at her like her family and friends always had when she spoke about Rae-Rae. But with Lucifer right in front of them, Dan was willing to believe just about anything right now.

"Great. Yeah, super cool. Ghosts, Angels, the Devil", he nodded frantically, his voice rising in his hysteria, "Sure, everything is fine. No reason to freak out at all. Hey, do you think Satan would mind if I had a drink from his bar? Or maybe a dozen?"  
  
They both flinched when the pile of feathers on the couch that was the Devil started to move.   
  
"Fuck! I.. I need to get out of here! I do _not_ want to get torn to shreds by Satan", Dan started to panic in earnest now.  
  
  


"Just... get a drink Dan and calm down, If he really wanted to hurt us, any of us, he would have had so many chances. He could have done it when he didn't look like a goose a few days before Christmas."  
Ella took a few steps further to the sofa, ignoring the undignified squeak Dan let out. She knew he was just worried for her, and considering that they were in the Devils Den, it probably wasn't entirely unjustified.   
But Lucifer was her friend, had been from the day they met. He always had looked out for her, always kept her save. And thanks to Rae-Rae, her view on the myth surrounding the Devil wasn't as grim as one would think from a good catholic girl like her.

_"Lucifer Morningstar", he introduced himself with a sharp smile that just didn't quite reach his eyes. Open and friendly, but somewhat wary._

_"Cool!" So yeah, okay, Civilian Consultant with an interesting name. Probably a method actor. This was LA after all!_

_"'Cool?' I was expecting a different reaction, considering your choice of bling", he said, slightly confused, waving his finger at the small gold cross around her neck._

_"Oh? Dude, I had a friend named Adolf, okay? Adolf. I didn't hold it against him." She continued to pack up her equipment, the scene was thoroughly processed and it was time for her to return to the lab._

_"And besides - I think the Devil gets a bad rep.  
  
_

_The poor guy seemed to be even more confused now. "Ohh... You do, do you?", he stared at her, unbelieving._

_"Yeah, sure", she said, turning away from her bag and to him again. "I mean.. what did he really do that was so bad? What - rebelling against his Dad? Offering an apple to some naked lady?"  
_

_His face actually lit up at that, apparently genuinely pleased with her words. "Be still, my heart! Please, do go on!" The grin he gave her now was far more real than the first one.  
_

_"As opposed - he does run Hell. That's... not so great. You know, with the torture and eternal damnation.." she let the rest fade out - the implications were clear though.  
_

_"I'm retired. Besides, I didn't create Hell, I just worked there..."  
  
_

Retired... Did that even work? Could the Devil - such a big part of creation, Ruler of the Damned, King of Hell, Punisher and Destroyer, actually retire? What did that mean for the general afterlife? Did all the dead souls end up in Heaven now? She would probably ask him... if he was willing to talk, that was. If not, she could still wait for Rae-Rae to pop back up and just pester her with questions.

Ella was now directly next to the sofa. She would only have to reach out to touch actual Angel wings - but she didn't dare to. The Devil was hurt and possibly drunk, judging from the two empty bottles of whiskey on the ground next to him. The last thing he needed now was a nerdy scientist messing up his feathers.  
She assessed the damage done to the limbs and caught the silvery shimmer of a bullet embedded in the still bleeding flesh.

"You poor thing... Oh man... Oh fuck. Dan?" She turned around and looked into the face of her friend, pale as a sheet, sweating, with a wild, panicked look in his eyes.

"How... how can you call him that? That's the goddamn Devil! Oh, f- _literally God-Damn -_ He is not some-" Dan cut off rather sudden, his eyes becoming comically wide, staring at something behind Ella. Apparently, Satan was awake now.

"If you wish to argue further, I would ask you to leave", Lucifer groused, disgruntled, his voice laced with pain and an underlying note of sadness. The way Chloe had looked at him... he probably expected the two of them to react the same way.

"Sorry, Bud. We really didn't mean to wake you." Ella turned back to him, leaving Dan to sweat in panic alone, coming now face to face with the Devil. And _hoo boy,_ he looked horrible. Even paler than Dan, thanks to the blood loss - and that apparently was a thing for Angels - shaking, wings quivering... the pain he was in was visible in every way possible.

Lucifer seemed to finally become aware now that his wings were visible, and he scowled, obviously confused. "Why are you still here? You have clear evidence now of who I am... why are you not running for the hills?" He stared intently at Ella.

"Well... Dan is about to bolt", she smiled at him, "but, as I told you when we met - I always thought you just got a bad rep. I might not be a Detective, but I am not blind or stupid either. There is no way Chloe could have gotten out of there with only one shot to the shoulder if it wouldn't have been for you. You kept her save - that's not something a bad guy would do, Luce."

  
He tilted his head to the side, looking at her absolute stunned as if the mere thought of someone thinking good of him was an impossible miracle.

"I mean... don't get me wrong. This is... big. More than a simple ghost following me around for most of my life. But in the end", and she smiled again at him, "it's not as if anything has actually changed. God, Angels, the Devil... this all has always been there, here around us, the world doesn't spin the other direction all of a sudden. I am just more aware of things now. It's just like learning a new topic in school, right? This might be a little bit bigger than learning about photosynthesis, but its still just a process of acquiring new knowledge."

Satan stared. As if he was frozen in place and time, he simply stared at Ella, completely baffled.

"Hey, Earth to Lucifer? You still there buddy?", Ella worried. "C'mon... Dan is already gooey brained, you cannot leave me to be the only person thinking straight here, okay?"  
She looked at Lucifer, all pleading, and finally, the Devil nodded slightly.

"I'm just... surprised, is all", he answered quietly, a somewhat disbelieving frown on his face. "Doctor Linda didn't speak to me for 2 weeks when she found out the Truth. And the Detective-" he stopped and drew a slightly shuddering breath. "It... it doesn't matter. Aside from one strange young lady hard into cosplay, no one ever reacted that well to, well, me."  
Sitting up straighter, Lucifer winced and gasped in pain, his wings giving a small, but violent twitch which had the Devil gritting his teeth.

"Now, if you don't mind, I have to take care of these bloody nuisances", he pointed behind himself to the shivering wings, "and I am fairly certain you do not wish to see this specific form of manscaping."

Slowly, as not to cause himself any unnecessary further pain, he walked over to the heavy desk sitting in the corner of the room, in front of the windows and pulled one of Maze's strangely dark, curved knives out of one drawer.

It was the wrong move, as Dan apparently didn't listen to them talking and seeing the Devil with a deadly weapon in his hand was clearly too much to take for the male Detective. He jumped up from the barstool he had been sitting on, in absolute panic, grabbed his gun and didn't think twice before he shot.

"Dan, NO!" Ella rushed over to Lucifer, just to realize that Satan seemed to be bulletproof. The little ball of lead had simply bounced off Lucifer's forehead as if made of paper. No scratch, no forming bruise - nothing but unblemished alabaster skin.  
"...whoa. That's... freaking amazing!"

The Devil clearly had a different opinion on that. The glare he sent Daniel was dark and threatening. Ella gulped. This was about to get out of hand, she was sure of it. Wrecking her brain for something - anything - to stop the catastrophe that was about to happen, she looked at the wings, a frown starting to form on her face.

"What the f- How the Hell did you just get shot without so much as a scratch, but when you get shot at the loft your wings ended up like they did?"  
It was enough to rescue Dan from impending doom. Lucifer blinked a few times and focused his gaze back on Ella, while Dan stood behind them, having dropped his gun to put both hands in his hair, gripping tightly, alternating between panic and shock.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Ella was sure she should probably try to help her friend, but there were multiple issues to battle with here and now. And - first things first: Stopping the Devil from... whatever he planned to do with that knife and whatever he thought about doing to Dan for shooting him. Goal reached for both problems, at least for now, as the Devil leaned against the desk, setting the knife next to himself onto the polished mahogany.

"I am honestly not entirely sure. For some reason that is still unknown to me, the Detective makes me vulnerable to human weapons. Usually, I am immortal, there are only very few things in Heaven, Hell and all other planes of existence that are able to truly hurt me. But when I'm close to _her_ I am just as vulnerable as anyone else. Hence the new lead-look for my wings."  
Lucifer looked down onto the knife for a moment, then up to Dan.

"Listen, Detective Douche. I will take up the knife now and I do not intend to hurt either of you with it. So no need to waste more bullets on me, please. I simply wish to get those pesky buggers off my back, if you don't mind. Those bullets hurt like Hell - pun intended."  
Before he could even try to grab the weapon, Ella interrupted him.

"Are you actually talking about _cutting off your own limbs_?! Nu-uh, not gonna happen, dude! There has to be a better solution!" She made her way over to him, Dan behind her giving a terrified and rather undignified squeak, which she completely ignored, just to snatch the wickedly sharp blade away before the Devil could grab it.  
"I just know it has to hurt like a bitch but... Please? Self-Harm is not the ideal way to deal with it. Let us at least see if we can help somehow."

Behind her, another undignified sound could be heard. She turned around to look at Dan, who dared to glance at her every few seconds, but mostly tried to keep the Devil in his sight. 

"W-what do you mean, 'we'? What are you suggesting that 'we' do? That's Satan!" Dan gripped his hair again, pacing back and forth in front of the well-stocked bar. 

Before Lucifer could speak up, Ella already cut him off.  
"I know who he is, okay? And so should you. He is that big dork listening to me rambling on about scientific nonsense. The guy that plays Monopoly with your daughter. The same man that throws a prom for a girl he likes just because she never had one. The Dude that just used his own _wings_ to shield your ex-wife so that she doesn't end up like swiss cheese. The worst he has ever done since I joined the station was to steal your pudding, okay?" She frowned, just for a short moment, then shook her head. The empty non-grave grave from their Yoga-massacre case should probably not be brought up now, not when Dan was already panicking. Some sinister dark hole in the ground would probably not make it any better now.  
"Think about it, Dan. You just shot him. In the head. And look - You are still in one piece, he hasn't ripped you to pieces, he didn't even yell at you for it. Would someone evil, someone bad do that? Nope. So get your shit together and... I don't know man."

She turned around again to look at the Devil who once again frowned at her, but also at Dan.

"What?"

Lucifer fixed Dan with a contemplating stare, and Dan stared back, afraid.  
"I do not understand how you both are still here. Yes, you explained yourself... But I am the Being your oh-so-fantastic religion preaches against at every point and turn. I'm-"

"Stop, right there. I told you before, that's not how I see you. You are my friend. If you are the Devil then all the stories about you are just that - Stories. Fiction. Like Harry Potter. Magic might be real, so there is a grain of truth, but the whole plot around it? Fantasy and fiction. So stop the 'I'm the big bad Devil' Stuff and let us help you. And Dan will get his shit together right now!" She glared at both her friends for a moment, determination clear in her expression before she turned her full attention back to the Devil.

"Lucifer, please. We could have just run away when you were still asleep. But no, we both stayed. Dan was willing to see and listen instead of shooting you the moment he saw your wings. That has to count for something, right? You trusted me before, with the super creepy scene I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about. And - I am sure I still have a lot to learn about you, but I am still here, I have not run away... Isn't that reason to trust me a tiny bit more?"  
Her gaze wandered back to Dan.

"I know it's a lot to take in. Even more so for you. But come on, you are a Detective! Compartmentalize! We have a friend here that needs our help now, otherwise he might amputate his own limbs. He just saved Chloe's life. Can you really say no now?"

She watched them both, closely. Lucifer seemed to steel himself for rejection and Dan... 

Dan heaved a heavy sigh and scrubbed a hand across his face, taking a few deep breaths. When he lifted his hand from his face, his expression was just as determined as Ella's.  
"Okay. Let's patch up the Devil's wings."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No. Updates will not be daily. c:


	3. Low lays the Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Devil explains, Dan is coming around and... lots of wing-care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summaries are not my strength.
> 
> I will throw in a few comic elements, but you really do not need to know them, as I well bend and twist them so they fit my ideas. And if I take something directly, I will try to explain it on the go, enough for people to understand it.  
> (Which means, I think about adding Takehiko and Caliban. Fun times.)

They had relocated onto the balcony, Lucifer sat backwards on one of his lounge chairs, folding his arms over the backrest. It was clear the man was putting on a show for them, trying to seem non-threatening and at ease, but he was tense, every muscle under strain, screaming pain the intense wish to... flee.  
Dan really couldn't grasp what that was about. If anything, he should be the one wanting to run, but the longer he and Ella stayed close, the more at ease he felt - the mental breakdown left out of the picture.  
Here was the great Adversary - the Devil, the Beast of ancient history - baring his back and his wrecked wings to them, opening himself up to two little, insignificant mortals, agreeing to their help in cleaning his wounds and patch him up. The guy never cared for much besides himself - apart from Chloe, apparently - took everything in life as a joke, never gave a single fuck for anyone's opinion about him... and yet he seemed to be ready to take off and fly away at the first wrong word either one of them might speak.  
Did this being, older than time, unimaginably powerful and gifted with impossible abilities, truly fear _t_ _heir_ rejection?

In all honesty, the longer he thought about Ella's words and the longer he was close to the Devil that tried so hard to be 'normal', the calmer Dan became. His mind was still reeling, he was still short of hyperventilating whenever he started to think about... all of this. But as long as he just was here, concentrating on the motions of cleaning and straightening out feathers like Lucifer has shown them before, without actually thinking of _what_ he was touching there... it was bearable.  
They had started with some pliers and tweezers about two hours ago, fishing exactly 69 bullets out of those beautiful white wings (The fact that Lucifer did not comment on the number was telling enough about his current condition. And neither Ella nor Dan really had the mind to either.) and washing out the wounds with some straight, clean alcohol.  
After that came the grooming. 

They took turns. Each of them preened the feathers for about 20 minutes before the other one took over, to avoid a 'divine overload' - apparently, touching the wings of an Angel was not entirely healthy for an extended period of time. Or perhaps, way too healthy. They started drifting off, blissing out and - according to the Devil - if not stopped, they would get addicted in a very dangerous, unhealthy way.  
Dan just started feeling dizzy again, when Ella gently nudged him back to full consciousness and away, so she could take over.

Taking a seat next to Lucifer, Dan let his gaze drift over the city before and below them. As long as the Divinity rush lasted, he was hoping to get some answers. Once it wore off the Detective was sure the crisis would come rushing back.

"So... you gonna share the whole story now? What was actually up with Pierce? What happened in the loft?" Dan stared at Lucifer as if trying hard enough would grant him insight into Satans memories.  
The Devil answered with a sigh. "As I tried to tell you before - Marcus Pierce was not his actual name. It was just a persona taken on as a facade, an alias to hide behind." He closed his eyes and sighed again as Ella straightened a few feathers. Dan got the picture - it must have felt absolutely fantastic, even if it was tainted with pain from the slowly closing wounds.  
Ripping himself away from the pain and pleasure that was Ella's hands in his feathers took visible effort.   
"His name is - was - Cain. First son of Adam and Eve, Humanities first murderer, cursed by dear old Dad to wander Earth for all eternity, cursed to see everything he ever knew fade to dust, everyone he ever loved die while he has to live on. Human souls are not meant to endure that. He lived his on Hell in life. Kind of ironic that he sought my help. Nay, that's not right..."  
He closed his eyes and sighed again in slight pain, but the shiver he gave spoke of something like pleasure.  
"I offered my help when he told me he wanted to die. Flip my father the bird, once again. Breaking the curse He put in Cain and breaking His rules by killing a human."

Dan had problems following that story. There were definitely pieces missing that he needed to understand it all. But before he could say something about it, the Devil had apparently figured that out on his own.

"I told you before - the Detective somehow makes me vulnerable. Around her, I am just as mortal as everyone else. And yes, I know that for a fact, bloody Malcolm made sure I knew how it feels to die like a human." Dun shuddered but didn't comment on it. He wanted to, but the divinity still surging through him from combing through angelic feathers made it hard to speak up fast enough.  
So Satan simply continued, "He found out about it somehow - that there was a woman in LA that could make the Devil bleed. And he just took his chance, came here, applied to a job close to her and... well, tested it himself."  
He stopped a moment, his wings tensing as Ella plucked out a ruined covert and straightened the surrounding feathers with a tiny, whispered 'Sorry'.  
"You know... the case on the Firehawk Ranch, where he got himself shot. Didn't work, very obviously."  
He stopped another time, staring out over the balcony railings, but not seeing the world behind. He seemed to be caught in memories instead.  
"The details do not matter, I guess. I found out who he was after we caught the fake Sinnerman, and a bit later I offered to help him end his existence. If not to just piss off my father, then at least-"  
The wing Ella worked on twitched rather violently, Ella taking a step back, apparently scared. She held a rather big feather in her hand which dripped blood and something else, something brighter and glowing. 

"That one was not loose enough. I didn't mean to startle you, Miss Lopez, but that bloody **hurt**." Lucifer gave a full-body shiver, all off his feathers fluffing up - like a sparrow that tried to appear bigger.   
Dan snorted. Did he just really thought of *the Devil* as a sparrow? Best not to ever let him know that...  
The Angel looked at him questioning but didn't bother asking what went through Dan's mind.

After a few deep breaths for all of them, Ella and Lucifer settled back into their previous positions, and Lucifer continued his speech.  
"I owed it to Eve. I caused her and her family enough trouble, just because I was angry and wanted to mess with my Father's little toys, back in the day, so ending her son's misery should really be the least I could do.  
We tried a few things, but, as it is with eternal curses, nothing actually worked. We had a fallout over the Detective, and so on and so forth, and lastly, we stopped trying. I needed new ideas, and he had obviously enough of me anyways."  
He halted once more.  
Dan observed him closely and for the very first time ever he got the feeling that Lucifer really was older than time - the gaze far away, contemplating, _wistful_ and eons old.

"The Detective was the indeed key to lift his curse, though. When Cain fell in love, the mark of his curse faded. When the Detective decided not to marry him, Cain all of a sudden wanted his curse back and... it's a rather complicated back and forth there, I am gonna spare you the details. He tried to kill Amenadiel, to anger God enough to curse him again, but dear Charlotte took the shot instead."

Dan gasped. The woman he loved died to save an Angel from getting shot. ...why was this his life now?!  
"It might only be a small consolation, Daniel, but she is at peace now," Lucifer spoke quietly, looking at him with a sad smile.  
"Amenadiel brought her to Heaven himself. First Class Ticket, Angel Airways, headed straight to the Paradise." His smile fell and he took a small, shuddering breath.   
"I will never see her again. But you will. When you get your life and all your guilt sorted, Daniel. You all will be reunited, as long as you live your life without deep, lingering guilt, as best as you can."

Somewhat numb, Dan nodded. He would absolutely ask about that later again. What was that supposed to mean, 'without guilt'?  
For now, though, he swallowed his questions down. Even though he felt the tingling in his fingers fading, the last of the divinity leaving him and clearing his mind again, he dared not to interrupt Lucifer from the rest of his story.

"Since you were a major part of the rest of it, I am just going to continue from where we arrived at the loft, shall I?" He let his gaze sweep over the city again, and after taking a deep breath, he spoke again.  
"It was a trap, as you well know. One he designed not for her, but for me. He still wanted her, but he wanted to get rid of me, because - and he was very right about that - if he would have simply skipped town, I would not have stopped hunting him down for what he did to Charlotte, and for breaking the Detective's heart, for using and manipulating me..." His tone had dropped, and Dan could feel it crawling down his spine, this dark, menacing promise. The Devil on a hunt. Not a threat to be taken lightly. Pierce - _Cain_ \- had apparently picked up on that as well.  
"He had his men on the gallery, ready to shoot. And, in the end, living was worth more for him than keeping the Detective for himself. So he simply let his goons shoot us."

"And you used your wings to keep the both of you save?" Ella asked silently. Lucifer just nodded, his face pulled into a frown.  
"I flew us out as soon as they stopped shooting. Up to the roof, to safety. She didn't-... she was scared when she saw my wings. Tried to get away from me as soon as possible." The hurt was clear in his voice and Dan felt bad. He had reacted just the same, even tried to shoot the Angel before him. He cringed - It had been unfair. The Devil was hurt and had tried to keep them save, always mostly honest with them - even though he did indeed keep a lot of important details to himself and lacked in providing proof... but when his reaction, Chloe's reaction was something normal, then Dan could understand Lucifers reluctance to provide the needed proof.

"I cannot blame her, now, can I? Everything humanity know about me stems from the lies Gabriel once told about me, when I had no chance of defending myself. You humans are incredibly good at spinning a myriad of tales from one single source. While I never got to tell my part, Gabriel's word got spread and retold and nurtured into a garden of myths about the monstrous Devil seeking for the destruction of humankind, leaving nothing but chaos and death in his wake," he scoffed, his expression radiating anger and hurt.  
"My own brother is the reason I get vilified for everything bad that happens. Can you even imagine how that feels? But of course, what Gabriel says just *has to be* true. He, the Messenger of God. His Voice and His Word - no one would ever accuse him of lying, ever."  
So much bitterness, Dan could feel it sweeping through his entire body, leaving him feeling cold and uneasy.  
"But, alas, the prick got what he deserved," Satan spat out, and there was a gleeful glint in his dark eyes ('Did they just flicker red?'). "Cursed now himself, maybe even worse than I am. Hah. Serves him right."

Another can of worms that Daniel desperately wanted to open, but later, **later**! 

"I tried to tell her that I didn't want to hurt her, but she was absolutely out of it. Couldn't even move... Anyways, when I realized I couldn't get through to her, I took my leave, back downstairs to the loft... but they were already gone. And before I could follow them, the Detective arrived... and then the Police streamed in and secured the scene. The rest, you already know."

Once he stopped talking, Ella took a few steps back, swaying a little bit, the exposure to divinity too long, too much. Dan threw her a worried glance, but she just shook her head, mouthing a silent 'I will be okay'.  
Standing up again, Dan took over Ella's place at the Devil's Back and saw most of the feathers had been smoothed out already.   
"Okay, I think I should get the rest done now. No more switching," he announced, with a short nod and a small smile. Lucifer tensed up and Dan wondered at that. Did he not want them to leave his wings alone? Thinking about the way he reacted the last 2 hours, fearing rejections, resenting his constant abandonment... maybe he thought they would drop him now that they were done cleaning him up?  
Dan wouldn't put that kind of thinking past him, considering all his negative experiences. And, looking back at his own reaction upon truly seeing the Devil for the first time...  
He swallowed that lump of guilt down and, settling on a small idea to counteract the idea of rejection, nodded once more, determined.

Putting his fingers back into the soft, warm feathers, he spoke up again, knowing Lucifer appreciated honesty. "You know... I am still kinda freaking out about all of this... but man, really. We won't be leaving you. It's just... super hard to wrap my head around it, okay? The world is so much bigger all of a sudden... and it looks like all the things we learned about you and... Him... seem to be wrong. It's just. It will take time, okay? But... at the same time, I think I understand you better than ever before. *You*, all about the way you are, the way you behave makes so much more sense now."  
Reaching the last bent feather now, Dan stopped for a little moment, reluctant to let go of the warm wings just yet.  
"We still need to find Pierce- Cain. We can't let him get away with what he did and we also need to come up with a story for the... the blood and the feathers at the scene. So, Old Scratch. You are not gonna get rid of us until all of that is resolved," Dan said with a small grin, straightening out the last feather.  
"Now, I really hope you have enough towels for that, I want to see these without them being covered in blood."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My beta jumped off. Or at least she is not answering at the moment, and I am an impatient little Shrub. So... Corrected everything as best as I could. Tadaaa.
> 
> As always - comments are greatly appreciated. <3

**Author's Note:**

> So, I did not intend for this to have multiple chapters, but several someones thought it might be worth it.  
> I have no set posting schedule, but the story is roughly drafted completely, so there should be some more or less regular updates.  
> It all depends on my motivation.
> 
> Also - yes, this will be Lucella, and no, I have nothing against Deckerstar.  
> I have no favourite ship, I have an Armada.


End file.
